Bangalore: Who cares about rain water harvesting?

Bangalore: The officials of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) seem to have forgotten the deadline given to residents and commercial establishments to install rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in buildings measuring 40x60 feet. The official deadline ended on March 31. The board, which had threatened to disconnect water and sanitary connection from April 1, has not yet taken any punitive steps on those who have not installed the RWH system.

BWSSB has forgotten the deadline given to residents and commercial establishments to install rainwater harvesting.

According to the figures accessed by the Express, out of 55,000 identified buildings, only 41,900 have installed RWH system so far. As many as 3,996 units witnessed the installation of RWH systems in December, which actually dropped to 1,760 in January following the extension of the deadline.Now, with the official deadline lapsed and lack of interest by BWSSB in enforcing the deadline, the figures indicate a declining trend. Consumers who had failed to install RWH system, had submitted letters to the board requesting them to give a grace period ranging from 15 days up to three months. According to the officials, the board had received 8,000 such letters and they did not care about it.When asked on why the board had not taken measures to disconnect its services, BWSSB Chairman Gaurav Gupta said, Our objective is to get RWH installed. We had sent a proposal to the government to extend the March 31st deadline, but we have not received any reply from the government.If water connection is cut, the people may get water from private suppliers. If the sanitary connection is disconnected, many will be in trouble as it may lead to contamination of water etc. We will convene a meeting in this regard, said Venkatraju T, Engineer-in-chief of BWSSB.Government amended the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1964 (Karnataka Act 36 of 1964), which confers power to the board to disconnect water and sanitary lines if the owner or occupier do not provide RWH. BWSSB had extended the initial deadline of May 27, 2010 up to December 31, 2011. Later, Minister S Suresh Kumar, citing public demand, extended it by three-months up to March 31, 2012.